Ghost River

Ghost River Read Free Page A

Book: Ghost River Read Free
Author: Tony Birch
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home under the bridge, I’m gonna catch a couple and start my own flock. I could race them. There’s prize money in that. And you can make even more betting on your bird. Or against it.’
    â€˜You don’t have any place to keep birds.’
    â€˜I could build a coop outside my bedroom window, over the kitchen roof.’
    Ren didn’t doubt Sonny had the skill to build a coop, there was nothing he couldn’t do with his hands. Just the same, he didn’t like the idea at all.
    â€˜I don’t know about that.’ He frowned. ‘Keeping a bird in a cage. I reckon it’s cruel.’
    â€˜It’s a coop, not a cage. If I can find enough wood and wire I’ll make it as big as a house. Anyway, you train pigeons and you don’t need to keep them locked up. They fly away and come back home to you. No harm to the bird in that.’
    â€˜S’pose so.’
    â€˜Is so.’
    As they approached the iron bridge Ren heard hollering up ahead. He whispered to Sonny to keep low and stay quiet. They moved off the track and lay in the long grass, Sonny’s knee digging into a length of metal pipe. He pulled it out of a tangle of weeds, put one end to his shoulder and pointed it at Ren.
    â€˜You’re fucken dead.’
    Sonny stuck his head up above the line of grass and saw a group of men underneath the bridge stomping around a campfire. They looked like a long-lost tribe. The men passed a flagon of wine between them while they sang and kicked up dust.
    â€˜We have trouble,’ Sonny said. ‘We’re gonna have to take them, Ren.’
    â€˜You’ll be doing it on your own.’
    â€˜Please yourself, coward.’
    Sonny stood up, lifted the pipe to his shoulder, moved forward through the grass and took aim at the men. One of them saw him coming, nodded to the others, took a couple of steps forward himself and raised his hands in surrender.
    â€˜Don’t be shooting at me, youngster. Are ya from the authorities?’ he asked Sonny, humouring the boy.
    â€˜We’re outlaws,’ Sonny answered.
    â€˜Thank Jesus Christ for that one.’ The man smiled, relaxing his hands at his sides. ‘So are we. How about you be polite and come over here and introduce yourselves?’
    After some coaxing the boys walked closer to the camp. The man offered them a seat, which they refused. The other men took no notice of the boys and went on shuffling around the fire, humming a tune and continuing to pass the bottle.
    â€˜This is my camp,’ the man said. ‘So you can end the poor manners and stop pointing that weapon at me,’ he ordered Sonny. ‘If not, I’m as likely to take it and shove it up your arse.’
    He made the comment with a smile on his face, but it was enough of a threat for Sonny to throw the length of pipe to the ground. The man clapped his hands together.
    â€˜Good boy. That’s what I like to see. They call me Tex and I’m boss down here.’ He pointed at Sonny. ‘What name do ya go by?’
    Sonny wasn’t accustomed to providing his name to a complete stranger but he offered up Sonny Brewer without thinking about it.
    Tex took a step closer and studied Sonny’s face. The man was delighted by what he found. ‘That eye you have there, I believe it may be a true wonder. Come take a look at this,’ he barked at the others. ‘We have someone special visiting this morning. How’d you earn such an eyeball as that, son?’
    Sonny rubbed the knuckle of his thumb over his eye, unhappy with the attention it was getting.
    â€˜I was born with it.’
    Tex gently patted him on the shoulder. ‘Good for you. It’s a true beauty. I have never seen an eye like it. And it’s a sign, we can be certain of that.’
    â€˜What sort of sign?’ Sonny asked.
    â€˜Can’t say right yet,’ Tex answered, seemingly holding something back.
    Neither Sonny nor Ren was sure

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